What ever happened to service manuals?

[Fred]

"Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote

One thought about the latter. In some equipment, they put a rectifier
diode across the battery with the cathode to positive, so that if the
batteries are put in backwards, the diode will short them out and save
the equipment from being damged. Well you may have such a diode, and
the backwards batteries may hav damaged it so that it's drawing serious
current and draining the batteries.

Thanks. I'll check those diodes. I know that the batteries aren't being
drained in this case, though, because the "dead batt" warning comes on upon
the first attempt to take a photo. Then, if I remove those batteries and
put them in a flashlight, they work like new.

Yesterday, one of the ladies at work came into the shop and asked me for
an AA cell, needed for the new wall clock she had just bought. I gave
her one, and what'd she do? Just shoved it into the holder on the back,
not even watching which way it was supposed to go in. And of course she
put it in backwards. Well, DUH, after she turned it around the right
way, it started working. Murphy's Law applies.

Good thing these ladies don't work at the local nuclear reactor, eh.

 

[Fred]

"Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote
in message news:10hjm5tliepvr72@corp.supernews.com...

"Fred" <testing@testing1212mouse.com> wrote in message
news:tG8Sc.1013$EQ5.812@nwrddc03.gnilink.net...

"Ray L. Volts" <raylvolts@SPAMRIDhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cfabs6$jsk@library2.airnews.net...
A few companies absolutely refused to sell or insisted they had no
service
manuals whatsoever. Some companies were willing to part with the
service

Ditto. I will never buy a Sanyo anything just for that reason. And
their
service documentation I've seen is full of errors. Same for Olympus
(my
current broken camera) -- will never buy another one because of the
disposable attitude of theirs.

I feel the same way, but they are helping to ensure that they will be
able to sell more products in the future by preventing the old ones from
being repaired. I, also, want to have the schem and service manual for
stuff I buy, but after all these years of trying to get them, I've found
that sometimes it's just too difficult to sail against the prevailing
winds, so I just stoop to the level of the average consumer and buy a
new one instead of repairing the old one.

And what really gets my undies in a knot is that the only thing that may
be wrong with a VCR or TV, for example, is that the damn remote control
is bad, and there's no way to get a replacement that has full
functionality! Like you can buy a 'universal' remote, and it has the
usual volume, channel, play and record buttons, but you can't configure
the VCR because all that stuff was on the original remote, but not on
the VCR itself! And if you can't use the original, you can't do SPIT!
FURRFU!

The first ten minute power failure that comes along, and you not only
have to reset the date and time, but you have to re-enter all the
channels, too. And without the original remote, you're out of luck!

Yep, the fellow who wrote about the Greenies was on to something. They
should give up the "legalize dope" campaigns and push the repair/recycle
thing.

 

[Fred]

To my ol' buddy Ed.... my original post... try to pay attention this time
and stay on topic...

In my case, I have an Olympus C700 digital camera, 2-3 years old with a
power drainage problem. This should be a simple matter to isolate but I'm

finding only operator/user info available. None of the camera repair shops
in the LA area even work on this model bcause they have no documentation
from Olympus. I have taken the camera completely apart (yes, and back
together) and it is very simple to do, but not seeing anything obvious, like
burned points, bad contacts, etc., I can't do much else until I know the
test points, etc.

>Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Michael A. Covington]

"Fred" <testing@testing1212mouse.com> wrote in message
newssxSc.5708$EQ5.1199@nwrddc03.gnilink.net...

Actually I'm trying to get my camera fixed...

You might also try the appropriate newsgroup in rec.photo.equipment, since
specific experience with similar cameras is going to be more relevant than
general electronics. Some of the people over there are quite technically
inclined.

 

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

"gothika" <Vampyres@nettaxi.com> wrote in message
news:aeolh09nbdqi1fn6nargekq6btpsu2fd23@4ax.com...

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 23:04:31 GMT, "Fred"
testing@testing1212mouse.com> wrote:

To my ol' buddy Ed.... my original post... try to pay attention
this time
and stay on topic...

In my case, I have an Olympus C700 digital camera, 2-3 years old
with a
power drainage problem. This should be a simple matter to isolate but
I'm
finding only operator/user info available. None of the camera repair
shops
in the LA area even work on this model bcause they have no
documentation
from Olympus. I have taken the camera completely apart (yes, and back
together) and it is very simple to do, but not seeing anything
obvious, like
burned points, bad contacts, etc., I can't do much else until I know
the
test points, etc.

Any advice would be appreciated!


Does the camera have any sort of memory functions?
Ones that'd keep memory chips or whatever hot even when the camera is
turned off?
I've serviced some of the later model electronic film cameras that
have just such and will suck the batteries dry over a relatively
short period with the camera in off mode.(All for the sake of
retaining certain mode or exposure settings.)
If you've had the camera apart look and see what it'd take to run a
couple of wires and mount an external power jack to the outside of the
camera body.
You could then use an external battery pack with an on/off switch to
conserve batteries.(You could also mount a small slide switch on the
camera body wired to the main power leads from the battery thus
disabling whatever is draining the batteries.)
I've found that with an external battery pack my digital cameras go
for hundreds of shots with full flash power and none of the
degradation of image quality one gets when the internal batteries
start going down.

"Degradation of image quality one gets when the internal batteries
start going down?" Sounds like those are really poor quality cameras.

I would keep away from slide switches. They are too easily switched on
by brushing against something. And nowadays, cameras as wo small it
would be difficult to fit one into it.

But external battery packs are very helpful.

 

[Mike]

In article <10hjm5tliepvr72@corp.supernews.com>,
Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\" <alondra101@hotmail.com> wrote:

And if you can't use the original, you can't do SPIT!
FURRFU!

That's a nasty cough you've got there

--
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mike Brown: mjb[at]pootle.demon.co.uk | http://www.pootle.demon.co.uk/

 

[Fred]

I did that first. They ain't much help.

"Michael A. Covington" <look@ai.uga.edu.for.address> wrote in message
news:411ab685@mustang.speedfactory.net...

"Fred" <testing@testing1212mouse.com> wrote in message
newssxSc.5708$EQ5.1199@nwrddc03.gnilink.net...

Actually I'm trying to get my camera fixed...

You might also try the appropriate newsgroup in rec.photo.equipment, since
specific experience with similar cameras is going to be more relevant than
general electronics. Some of the people over there are quite technically
inclined.

 

[Fred]

Many thanks, Gothika, for the tips!

"gothika" <Vampyres@nettaxi.com> wrote in message
news:aeolh09nbdqi1fn6nargekq6btpsu2fd23@4ax.com...

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 23:04:31 GMT, "Fred"
testing@testing1212mouse.com> wrote:

To my ol' buddy Ed.... my original post... try to pay attention this
time
and stay on topic...

In my case, I have an Olympus C700 digital camera, 2-3 years old with a
power drainage problem. This should be a simple matter to isolate but I'm
finding only operator/user info available. None of the camera repair
shops
in the LA area even work on this model bcause they have no documentation
from Olympus. I have taken the camera completely apart (yes, and back
together) and it is very simple to do, but not seeing anything obvious,
like
burned points, bad contacts, etc., I can't do much else until I know the
test points, etc.

Any advice would be appreciated!


Does the camera have any sort of memory functions?
Ones that'd keep memory chips or whatever hot even when the camera is
turned off?
I've serviced some of the later model electronic film cameras that
have just such and will suck the batteries dry over a relatively
short period with the camera in off mode.(All for the sake of
retaining certain mode or exposure settings.)
If you've had the camera apart look and see what it'd take to run a
couple of wires and mount an external power jack to the outside of the
camera body.
You could then use an external battery pack with an on/off switch to
conserve batteries.(You could also mount a small slide switch on the
camera body wired to the main power leads from the battery thus
disabling whatever is draining the batteries.)
I've found that with an external battery pack my digital cameras go
for hundreds of shots with full flash power and none of the
degradation of image quality one gets when the internal batteries
start going down.

 

[Fred]

OK. That's enough complaining and carrying on, you knuckleheads...

Let's get back to the original subject...

Anybody know where I can get service documentation on the Olympus C-700
digital camera? Olympus does not supply this to the general public OR
service techs.

Anyone? Hello?

 

[Mark D. Zacharias]

"Fred" <testing@testing1212mouse.com> wrote in message
news:f_fUc.9895$Kf4.3683@nwrddc02.gnilink.net...

OK. That's enough complaining and carrying on, you knuckleheads...

Let's get back to the original subject...

Anybody know where I can get service documentation on the Olympus C-700
digital camera? Olympus does not supply this to the general public OR
service techs.

Anyone? Hello?

If they don't supply it to the public or to repair techs, I don't know who
else would possibly have it - a defector from Olympus Service, or their
Chinese vendor?

Mark Z.

 

[Fred]

Thanks for the tips, Michael.


"Michael A. Covington" <look@ai.uga.edu.for.address> wrote in message
news:4121f9c0$1@mustang.speedfactory.net...

Let's get back to the original subject...

Anybody know where I can get service documentation on the Olympus C-700
digital camera? Olympus does not supply this to the general public OR
service techs.

I'd try 2 things:

(1) www.zuiko.com, www.olympusguy.com, and some other well-known Olympus
experts on the Web;

(2) posting a thread titled "Olympus C-700 Service Manual Wanted" and not
trying to use the long-defunct groups "news.electronics" and
"news.electronics.repair," which are still in the list of newsgroups for
this thread and are limiting its distribution.

The reason this thread turned into a general discussion of industry
practices is that that's how it's titled.

 

[gothika]

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 05:07:44 -0500, "Mark D. Zacharias"
<mzacharias@yis.us> wrote:

"Fred" <testing@testing1212mouse.com> wrote in message
news:f_fUc.9895$Kf4.3683@nwrddc02.gnilink.net...
OK. That's enough complaining and carrying on, you knuckleheads...

Let's get back to the original subject...

Anybody know where I can get service documentation on the Olympus C-700
digital camera? Olympus does not supply this to the general public OR
service techs.

Anyone? Hello?



If they don't supply it to the public or to repair techs, I don't know who
else would possibly have it - a defector from Olympus Service, or their
Chinese vendor?

Mark Z.

It's been a while since I did any camera repair.( service days.)

Try a local camera repair shop.
I used to get repair manuals for Nikons from a friend who worked at
SPTS.(Southern Photo Technical Service.)
He's long since retired tho'.
Try making friend with some of the actual repair persons.( some will
make copies of manuals for a small fee.)
Here are some links to someof the pro camera sites.

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=photo%2enet

http://www.photo.net/community/index

The link below is to an electronic site, lots of how to links and
source links.

http://www.epanorama.net/index.php

The graflex site is mostly for old press cameras but the guys there
are most all camera repairmen and might be able to help you track down
a buyable manual.(They've helped me in the past in procuring hard to
get service manuals.)
http://www.graflex.org/

 

[Fred]

Thanks again, Big G!! I really appreciate the links and the info!

"gothika" <Vampyres@nettaxi.com> wrote in message
news:d4g8j0l3scp7nsi3561f2kq8k8ipj0m4p6@4ax.com...

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 05:07:44 -0500, "Mark D. Zacharias"
mzacharias@yis.us> wrote:


"Fred" <testing@testing1212mouse.com> wrote in message
news:f_fUc.9895$Kf4.3683@nwrddc02.gnilink.net...
OK. That's enough complaining and carrying on, you knuckleheads...

Let's get back to the original subject...

Anybody know where I can get service documentation on the Olympus C-700
digital camera? Olympus does not supply this to the general public OR
service techs.

Anyone? Hello?



If they don't supply it to the public or to repair techs, I don't know
who
else would possibly have it - a defector from Olympus Service, or their
Chinese vendor?

Mark Z.

It's been a while since I did any camera repair.( service days.)
Try a local camera repair shop.
I used to get repair manuals for Nikons from a friend who worked at
SPTS.(Southern Photo Technical Service.)
He's long since retired tho'.
Try making friend with some of the actual repair persons.( some will
make copies of manuals for a small fee.)
Here are some links to someof the pro camera sites.

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=photo%2enet

http://www.photo.net/community/index

The link below is to an electronic site, lots of how to links and
source links.

http://www.epanorama.net/index.php

The graflex site is mostly for old press cameras but the guys there
are most all camera repairmen and might be able to help you track down
a buyable manual.(They've helped me in the past in procuring hard to
get service manuals.)
http://www.graflex.org/